Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 89

This is week 89 of the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Not too happy with anything I've done here today. Had a hard time and lots of inner resistance, so I'm pretty much grateful that I got anything done at all. Not going to proof or re-read because I'll just get all nutty and want to redo them so... Hope you all had a better time with these than I did.


Just to help myself remember and to give everyone an early heads-up, I think maybe we will take a Thanksgiving break the week after next since I'm sure people - in the States, at least - will be busy cooking and eating and shopping and not really want to add wordzzles to their list.... and I think I need a mini break for myself too.


Words for this week's challenge were: officer, candid, drowning, turtles, sugar-coated, prospecting, shame on you, recliner, luggage, brains And for the mini: paragon of virtue, cats-in-the-cradle, swamp, sprinkles, garbage



My mega:

Lost in a world of drowning turtles
Shame on you seems not enough to say
Swamps of sugar-coated garbage
Oozes from the lips of fake paragons of virtue
Playing cats-in-the-cradle with everyone's future
Greed trumping all
Politicians lie and obfuscate
Their luggage filled with cash and campaign slogans
Prospecting for votes they say anything
Their words so candidly self-serving
Even the most feeble minds,
Sprawled in their recliners
Sprinkles of sawdust falling from their brains
Must know they lie
What are we to do when our leaders
The officers who make the law
Care only about the political game
And when those who are supposed to hunt for truth
Hunt for ratings instead
I must admit to some despair
When hypocrites rule the stage
And keep us all so polarized that
We forsake our highest good
To someone else's greed
My beloved nation dies a thousand slow deaths
And turtles drown



My mini:


My cat Sprinkles is no paragon of virtue, that's for sure, but he somehow manages to be lovable no matter what he's done. When I came home last week, tired and already out of sorts from a long day at the office to find a tipped over garbage can and a swamp of debris on my kitchen floor, I was ready to scream but then hubs, who had walked in behind me carrying the baby Sam, called out "bring your camera, that stupid cat's in the cradle" - and there he was, sleeping as sweet as an angel. Since baby has outgrown it, he has taken to curling up in there after his naughty rampages. His way of reminding me, I guess, that he was my baby first before the fur-less interloper arrived. So I took his picture and tip-toed out to the kitchen to clean up the mess and make dinner for all three of my boys.



And the 10-word: , candid, drowning, sugar-coated, shame on you,


Officer Fred Turtles shook his head sadly as he looked at his father sprawled out on the recliner, where he had obviously crashed the night before dead drunk. He walked quietly into his father's bedroom and packed enough luggage for a month at the rehab clinic. Making some breakfast and a pot of coffee, he began desperately prospecting his brain for the right memory or the right words with which to confront his troubled parent. He didn't want to approach him with some kind of shame-on-you lecture, but he knew the message couldn't be sugar-coated either. As he struggled with these thoughts his father walked into the kitchen groggily said, "Morning, Freddie, guess I must have fallen asleep in my chair." "Yeah, Dad. Looks like. I made you some coffee and breakfast." "Right thoughtful, Fred," the old man said, "I can use it." Candid, Fred finally decided. Just have to bite the bullet and tell it like it is. "Dad," he stammered, "I love you and I think you're drowning and I want you to get help. You're an alcoholic, Dad. I've booked a room for you at the rehab clinic. I know you miss Mom, but I don't think she'd want this for you. I..." His father raised his hand to silence him and his heart skipped a beat. "It's ok, son. You don't have to persuade me. I know you're right and I'm grateful. And you're right about your Mom. She spoke to me in my sleep last night.... told me you were coming and that I needed to listen to you. I never knew her to be wrong when she was alive, so I guess I'd sure better listen to her now. I'm a lucky man. What's this place you're asking me to go to?" Letting out a big sigh of relief, Fred let a tear trickle down his cheek and whispered a silent thank you to his mother. "OakHaven," he replied to his father's question. I did a lot of research and it seems to be the best place around.




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Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: love is a many splendored thing, trucks, inspector, symbols, rising, organic, liberation, costly, smug, naughty


And for the mini: the nature of the beast, identical, charcoal, braggart, vacation

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!